I don't know if they're eyeing any free agents, but the talk now is the former AG's defense and so-so bat vs. Jeter's poor defense and pretty good bat. Lot of talk as to whether Jeter could measure up offensively for those positions with higher offensive expectations. Not sure if they'd expect Gonzalez to stay at SS, though some like him.

Nice to see (er, hear) Mike get a double.

God, the radio totally -- what's the term? -- LURVEd me? On the Moss and Crisp fly balls.

I have to coexist with Yankee fans at the Bar and it's largely a pleasant experience, although I pick my people to coexist with. I'm not averse to complimenting them when appropriate; Jeter I respect somewhat but can't like.

If he's not a selfish player, and he does become "ready to move", I think the fact that it makes sense will counteract the tradition of having him at SS. Especially if they don't make the playoffs this year and continue making an organizational shift.

I think the fact that it makes sense will counteract the tradition of having him at SS.

Maybe they've changed a lot since I followed them. But the Yankees I knew would never have sense counteract what they consider tradition.

Zenslinger makes a good distinction btn respect and like. Many Sox fans act like there's nothing to respect there, and that just makes no sense to me. But like, well, you can't like the most visible player on your nemesis team.

We have a Sox-fan friend in the Resisters group, someone from Boston who moved to Canada during the Vietnam war. A great woman, too - big activist, well known in Cdn political circles. Our Sox-ness is like an instant bond every time we see each other.

So last night she was all excited to tell me she has tickets to see the Sox at Fenway in June. We were talking about how great Fenway is, how much we love it...

And I ended up saying, even before I was a Sox fan, Fenway was always my favourite park. She looked at me like, What?

I said, uh-oh, you don't know my history. So I told her a very brief version of my conversion, how I fell out of love and am on my second marriage.

Just got in, and I see no talk about the camera-angle? I saw they had it recently on some plays, but tonight it's almost every pitch. (I missed last night's game, so maybe they did it last night?)

Anyway, I was turned off to the straight-on shot by ESPN when they tried it, because the camera seemed really high up But the way NESN's doing it, it's watchable. And great for seeing the knuckler move.

Anyone know other sites besides mlb/espn/yahoo for gameday-like live scores? I'd like to find something that works behind my firewall at work besides fangraphs, which doesn't give balls/strikes/etc. during at-bats.

NESN is showing just about every pitch from the straight-ahead angle. They have a camera pretty much directly behind the pitcher, instead of in the camera well for that off-center look that we're all used to. It's very odd--some things take a little getting used to. But you can really see the knuckler breaking.

ESPN tried this as their normal thing a few years back, but like I said the camera was so high it was like watching from the blimp.

Amy, here's a picture I took last season. In this shot, the camera well is just to my right--so that usual centerfield camera angle is even MORE off-center than my pic. That's what the angle's always been. Now look at your screen and see how the pitcher's head is basically covering home plate. Or just a tiny bit to the left.

OK, so I missed the point! Well, all I did was once again reveal my ignorance!

All time favorite player: very hard question. From my Mets days, there was no one I found more exciting to watch than Nolan Ryan.

But in my adult life, all time favorite? That is hard. Probably either Fisk or Tek, being a catcher girl as I am. But Pedro, Manny, and Ortiz are up there. And Yaz. Shit, I dunno. I love Lowell, the new kids, and YOUK.

Thanks Amy. There are 8 topics (I have to pick 3, 4-6 pages each) and some of them are longish so I'll just show the ones I'm considering:

1) Assume you are an immigrant advocate in Washington lobbying to secure amnesty for the millions of illegal immigrants in the United States today. Write a strategy memo to your colleagues outlining what kind of coalition you would put together to obtain your objective. Be sure to specify which interest groups and organizations you would want to be part of your coalition and how you would entice them to join. Which groups would be your opponents and how would you deal with them? Be sure to consider the full array of interests and groups concerned, or potentially concerned, with immigration that we have discussed this term.

3) Write an evaluation of the Little Hoover Commission’s report and recommendations, specifically explaining why, if adopted, they would or would not be successful. Be sure to relate your argument to the readings and discussions from throughout the term.^ The Little Hoover Commission Report was a California study we read in class which tried to craft a program that combined public services to recently arrived immigrants in exchange for certain obligations (English classes, participation in civic organizations, etc.)

4) Assume you are an advocate trying to increase the number of Iraqi refugees currently being admitted to the United States. What kind of case would you make to Congress and the American people? Be sure to include consideration of whether and how you would seek to identify with and work with advocates for ordinary immigrants.

7) Discuss Wilson and Taub’s findings and conclusions in light of Higham’s perspective on the tensions the United States has experienced over mass immigration. ^Wilson and Taub wrote a book called "There Goes the Neighborhood" which discussed the clashes and tension between various ethnic neighborhoods in Chicago as immigration increased in recent years, and Higham's perspective was that the prime battle between interests in the US is between different lower/working-class ethnic groups

8) Use the findings and insights of the 9/11 Commission Report special section on Terrorist Travel to explain why even today, in the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001, government officials use the term “terrorist travel" instead of "immigration" to discuss the movement of potential terrorists.

8) Use the findings and insights of the 9/11 Commission Report special section on Terrorist Travel to explain why even today, in the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001, government officials use the term “terrorist travel" instead of "immigration" to discuss the movement of potential terrorists.

It's all based on readings we've already done and in-class discussions. I don't know if that's good or bad. The good news is, I know the stuff I'm looking through... the bad news is, that kind of limits the ways in which you can craft your argument.

Do they come up in like a window in the corner of the screen or something? (which is bad enough), or do they actually cut to a legit, full-screen commercial in between batters? Because that would be REALLY ridiculous.

I'll probably do 1, 4, 7 but #4 might be tough since this prof. is notoriously hard on sort of sentimental reasoning and that would be the biggest part of my case. I mean, in how many ways can I say "you break it, you buy it" before it gets stale? haha.

Do they come up in like a window in the corner of the screen or something? (which is bad enough), or do they actually cut to a legit, full-screen commercial in between batters? Because that would be REALLY ridiculous.

Full screen, full-on commercial! It's short (it has to be), but it's a full ad.

Of course I agree those ads on the bottom of the screen or in a corner are fucking bad enough but this is TOO MUCH.

Linkspamming is when you post links to your website on other people's blogs, because you really want them to visit your website, often while pretending you're a reader instead of someone who just wants to generate traffic to his website.

The Terrorist Travel thing was the most tedious thing I've ever read in my life. "Then he applied for a visa. Nobody checked up on it or anything. Then he got it. Then he went to Canada. Nobody checked up on it or anything. Then he came to America. Nobody checked up on it or anything. Oops"

BTW: I find Colbert to be kind of overrated most of the time, but he had a hilarious interview last night with the guy who wrote "The Fall and Rise of Islamic States" about how the US is aiding in the implementation of sharia law in Iraq, since that's what the people voted for (not to veer too far down a political path)

Did anyone else see it? I thought the whole episode was brilliant last night - I had it on to distract me

Oddly enough, the interviews w/ authors from Colbert is how I found most of the books I've put on my personal summer reading list. (The Fall and Rise of Islamic States one from last night seems really interesting)